Brief Summary

Anomalocaris is an extinct relative of modern arthropods that lived in the Cambrian Period, approximately 515 million years ago. It persisted up the Ordovician Period, 472 million years ago (1). Named “abnormal shrimp,” Anomalocaris is unlike any of its relatives still alive today. It had paired appendages at the front of its body, and a long segmented body with swimming lobes (fleshy boneless appendages used for swimming) on each segment (2). Anomalocaris was a large carnivore and specimens have been discovered with body lengths up to 2 m (3). It was a visual predator, gaining acute vision through compound eyes (4).